Once dubbed “God’s Waiting Room” because its residents were old and sedate, South Beach is now a playground for the young and spirited.
The renaissance of South Beach is an intriguing tale of a glamourous neighborhood going full circle, a tale that mixes architecture, economics and Mother Nature.
Tony Goldman, a local developer and chairman of the Ocean Drive Association, likes to think of South Beach as “America’s First Riviera.”
“It’s an arrestingly beautiful place,” said Randall Robinson of the Miami Design Preservation League.
Blessed with white beaches, sparkling water and clear blue skies, the southern tip of Miami Beach was “discovered” during the 1920s and 1930s, when developers flocked to build numerous Art Deco hotels and residences.
While almost every other part of the country limped along during the Great Depression, the area that came to be called South Beach thrived.
But after World War II, the neighborhood fell on hard times and the resort-driven community became a retirement haven. Things went from bad to worse when drug traffic brought a wave of crime to the neighborhood in 1980.
The salvation of South Beach proved to be its Art Deco architecture. With the country’s largest collection of Art Deco buildings-more than 800 structures of historic significance within one square mile-South Beach found a focus for revitalization efforts.
Built between 1923 and 1942, these structures are distinguished by their streamline style accented with curvilinear lines, shiplike spires and portholes.
Although preservationists have been at work since the late ’70s-succeeding in having South Beach’s Art Deco District nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979-only in the past five years has the area shown real signs of progress, observers said.
“Seven years ago you used to be able to shoot a cannon down this street,” Robinson said, referring to Ocean Drive, the roadway that runs along the beach. Today sidewalks are lined with crowded outdoor cafes, streets are filled with traffic and rollerbladers are everywhere.
Residential buildings were renovated during the mid-’80s, drawing a younger and more affluent crowd to South Beach. Commercial development soon followed, with new hotels, stores, restaurants and nightclubs moving to the neighborhood.
Many believe South Beach still hasn’t hit its stride. Even so, it’s undeniably hip, hot and haute.
“It’s gone from a sleepy, quiet neighborhood to one that’s in the international spotlight,” said Robinson, who’s been living in South Beach since 1987.
The Art Deco buildings that were originally painted white today have been splashed with a rainbow of colors-flamingo pink, chartreuse, sea blue, orange and yellow. This new color scheme seems to underscore the energy reverberating through the neighborhood.
And the people are as slick as the surroundings. Among South Beach celebrities: actor Mickey Rourke, who has opened a restaurant designed to resemble a boxing ring; and designer Gianni Versace, who has opened a boutique-winning kudos from capitalists-and renovated a villa-incurring the wrath of preservationists by tearing down an old hotel next door to make way for a pool.
“Miami Beach has a rhythm no other city in America has,” said John Jones, a principal at Chicago’s Ultimo boutique and an investor in The Impala, a South Beach hotel that opened in December.
One of the few areas in Florida that’s pedestrian-oriented, South Beach is a unique urban resort, observers agreed.
“Europeans and Latin Americans feel very much at home here,” said Stuart Rogel, regional director of Charles River Properties and former assistant city manager and economic development director of Miami Beach.
Although South Beach remains a bedroom community for Miami workers, it is highly tourist-driven. Estimates say half the visitors are from out of the country. Walking the streets of South Beach, one is just as likely to hear a foreign language being spoken as English.
But out-of-towners are not just visiting, they’re also investing.
In the early ’90s, the South Beach real estate market was driven primarily by foreign capital, experts said. Foreign investment is still significant, but there is more of a balance between local and out-of-town funds today, said Saul Gross, president of Streamline Development, a South Beach-based developer.
South Beach makes a good command post to monitor foreign business, said Jeanne Nicastri, a Miami real estate agent. “If you’re in California, you have to get up at 3 a.m. to call Europe. Here you can get up at 8 a.m. and have four hours before offices close abroad.”
Newcomers may find their exposure to South Beach startling, especially if they descend on the neighborhood in the early a.m. hours when clubs are at their peak.
“I freaked out,” said Rick Levin, a Chicago auctioneer who made his first pilgrimage to South Beach last November. After checking into a hotel on Ocean Drive-known as the “street that never sleeps”-Levin looked around and realized he was a long way away from the Midwest and its corn-fed natives.
“I felt very self-conscious. Everyone was gorgeous-both the girls and the guys,” said 29-year-old Levin. “It made me yearn for higher cheekbones.”
And with good reason. For South Beach has become home to as many as 30 modeling agencies.
“The light you get here with all the sand and water is very special-photo crews go crazy for it,” said Michele Pommier, head of a modeling agency with offices in South Beach.
Today as many as 75 photo crews roam South Beach each month from September to April, Pommier said. That’s up from one or two in the late ’80s.
Besides boosting local coffers, the fashion community has played a role in South Beach’s metamorphosis through marketing, said Craig Robins, a principal with Dacra Development Corp., which is involved in renovating and operating numerous properties, including the Marlin Hotel.
All those photo shoots means South Beach shows up in a lot of publications. “That gives a certain kind of P.R. and credibilty to the area,” Robins said.
But fashion photography isn’t the only creative force in South Beach. Home to the Miami Beach Ballet and the New World Symphony, South Beach also attracts artists and musicians.
Yet “it’s not for everyone,” Rogel admitted. “People from Des Moines may only come here once.”
Although some may find the glitter, the youth and the noise intimidating, others-even if they don’t belong to Generation X-say it’s invigorating. “It’s impossible to visit here and not feel immediately younger,” Jones said.
Reflecting South Beach’s regeneration, the median age of Miami Beach’s population fell from 65 to 47 between 1980 and 1990. And it’s still dropping, observed Roger Carlton, Miami Beach city manager.
Conversely, property values have skyrocketed: land along Ocean Drive, located closest to the beach, costs about $250 a square foot today, estimated local developers. Farther inland, along Collins and Washington avenues, prices are not quite so steep-about $100 to $150 per square foot.
But that is a dramatic improvement from the mid-’80s, when property in most areas of South Beach would have gone for $20 or $30 per square foot, according to one developer.
That property values took 10 years to climb to where they have reflects the slow pace of early redevelopment efforts. The first preservationists were high on idealism, but low on funds and financial savvy, real estate observers explained.
Also, it was difficult to convince people the South Beach buildings were all that historical, since many residents could remember seeing them built.
“In Florida, the development attitude was new, new, new,” said Mel Schlesser, a New York attorney-turned-South Beach developer. “If something here is three years old, it’s history,” quipped Schlesser, who co-chairs a committee to renovate Lincoln Road Mall, a pedestrian shopping center in South Beach.
Located just west of the Art Deco District, Lincoln Road Mall appears to be the next chapter in South Beach’s rebirth.
Indeed, retail in the Art Deco District has entered a second wave, said observers. Initially, merchants consisted of “trailblazers” making their retail debut, and not all were successful.
But now more experienced and visible retailers are showing up in South Beach: designers such as Giorgio Armani, Gianni Versace and Betsey Johnson, as well as veteran retailers from Coconut Grove and Bal Harbor, are expanding with second-store sites.
“This is a whole different quality of retail than we were getting before,” Gross said.
While renovation and development continues, South Beach is now challenged with managing its success, observers say. The neighborhood already is experiencing some fallout from its renaissance.
Affordable housing is an emerging concern. “No one dreamed five years ago we would be worrying about it,” Robinson said. But many residents, unable to afford rent hikes or condo conversions, are being forced out.
“We’re working on it,” Carlton said, acknowledging the city’s concern with affordable housing.
Parking is also a problem as more visitors swarm to the neighborhood.
But it’s easier to identify than resolve. In an historic development, you can’t tear down buildings to build parking spaces, Schlesser pointed out.
“We need to balance the growth and make sure it happens in a favorable way so it doesn’t destroy the charm or blemish the jewel we have here,” Gross said.
